Under the Kudzu
PO Box 525
Rocky Point, NC 28457
claudia
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Browntown Rosenwald school in Scott's Hill, NC (African-American school built 1926-1927) photo by Claudia Stack
ALL TEXT AND IMAGES (EXCEPT WHERE OTHERWISE NOTED) ON THIS SITE ARE COPYRIGHT CLAUDIA STACK AND MAY NOT BE USED WITHOUT PERMISSION
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New!!
Claudia Stack will present her documentary "Under the Kudzu" at the June, 2012 National Trust for Historic Preservation conference to be held at Tuskeegee University -- see link below for more conference information
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NTHP 100 Year Rosenwald School Commemorative Conference:
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is proud to present the National Rosenwald Schools Conference: 100 Years of Pride, Progress, and Preservationto be held at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama.
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"Under the Kudzu" was featured in an interview with Claudia Stack on the local CBS show Wilmington Weekend: See the interview here
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2011 Historic Wilmington Foundation Awards: Claudia Stack "David Brinkley Preservationist of the Year"; Betty Thompson, Board Secretary, and Verta Kea, President, accepted the award for the Board of the Canetuck Community Senior Center for "Excellence in Rehabilitation"
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March, 2011- Canetuck Community Center's (formerly Canetuck Rosenwald School) exterior restoration is complete, thanks to a $40K grant from Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation. Many thanks also to Frank Castillo, owner of CGC Historic Restorations, who did such a beautiful job.
Please help us with the next phase: Canetuck's Interior Restoration
We need to raise $43,879 to restore the interior and install a commericial kitchen suitable for offering a meal program for senior citizens in the Canetuck community. Please send donations (note: donations from individuals are not tax-deductible at this time):
Canetuck Community Center
P.O. Box 274
Currie, NC 28435
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The "Under the Kudzu" film project is complete and premiered at UNCW in April, 2011. Check back for information about another showing being planned for spring, 2012 by the Historic Wilmington Foundation.
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See the Under the Kudzu film project featured on the Harvard Graduate School of Education website
View the 1/15/10 New York Times
article about Rosenwald schools
Panel of Rosenwald School Alumni and Former Teachers at the
Nov.13th, 2009 Rosenwald School History Awareness Conference
From left to right: Dr. Monica Gisolfi, UNCW Department of History (moderator), Carrie Newkirk, Mary Faison, William Jordan, Augusta Johnson, James Faison, Betty Thompson
Share photographs and documents with the new UNCW Randall Library Rosenwald School Archive: contact Jerry Parnell at (910) 962-3276 parnellg@uncw.edu
View Nov.24th, 2009 Star News article about new UNCW Rosenwald Archive
Link to the UNC Archives post by Elizabeth Hull about photographs taken by Hugh Morton of SC Anderson, who taught for almost 50 years at the Pender County Training School
Link to WHQR's story on Rosenwald schools and the Under the Kudzu film project.
Link to Claudia Stack's editorial "Symbols of Sacrifice," which is about the importance of preserving Rosenwald school history.
"Seeing it in Color: Remembering the Canetuck Rosenwald School", directed by Claudia Stack, was an official selection of the 2009 Cine Noir Film Festival
Rhonda Bellamy, Cine Noir Festival Director, introduces Claudia Stack
To arrange for film showings and talks, please email Claudia Stack
Under the Kudzu film: Mission Statement
To create a feature-length documentary focused on two schools that were typical of the Rosenwald school movement. Under the Kudzu is the name of a film centered on two Rosenwald schools in Pender County, North Carolina. Rosenwald schools were African American schools built during segregation by communities who used matching grant funds and building plans provided by the Rosenwald Fund. Over 5,000 school buildings were built between 1913 and 1932. During that era African American communities in North Carolina organized to build 813 Rosenwald schools, the highest number of any state. The movement was particularly strong in Southeastern North Carolina, where Pender County is located. Under the Kudzu traces the history of the Canetuck Rosenwald School , a primary school, and the Pender County Training School, a high school.
The goals of Under the Kudzu include:
- Examining the social setting in which the schools were built
- Commemorating the dedication of all of those, black and white, who contributed to the schools
- Documenting oral history of alumni and teachers
- Recalling the use of music, recitation and dramatic performance as integral parts of instructional practice
- Demonstrating how the Rosenwald school plans, an expression of Progressive architecture, affected both the students’ experience and the larger community
- Exploring the role of devotional practices, which were common in both African American and white schools of that era
Under the Kudzu film: Vision Statement
That the film shall be broadcast nationally, in order to raise awareness of an important chapter in American history that has largely receded from public memory. That the film shall be viewed in educational settings to help students and teachers alike appreciate the long tradition of familial support for education in African American communities. That school administrators, teachers, and parents will use it as a basis for discussion, as some of the characteristics of Rosenwald schools can help us meet today’s educational challenges. That the film will inspire the preservation of one or more of the Pender County Rosenwald schools that survive, and also inspire people in other North Carolina counties and other states to document and preserve Rosenwald school history.
Background Information
African American communities in Pender County organized to build 19 buildings (five of them at the Pender County Training School) on 15 school sites with assistance from the Rosenwald Fund between 1917 and 1929. Through enormous sacrifice and determination, these communities often provided 25% or more of the cost of the Rosenwald facilities. Although the dollar amounts varied, the communities frequently also donated the land and much of the labor for the school. The combination of the community donation and the Rosenwald contribution acted as leverage for local school boards to provide the rest of the funds, and to commit to operating the schools.
Rosenwald schools in Pender County were built during the same era that local government used bond money to fund six brick schools for white students. A seventh, the Penderlea school, was built by the federal government and later transferred to Pender County. Despite the fact that the wooden Rosenwald schools were a step behind white facilities, they represented an enormous advance in African American school facilities, and communities were justifiably proud of the schools and teachers.
The Pender County school superintendent during this period, Thurman Tate Murphy, was a strong supporter of African American education. It is likely that the Rosenwald movement would not have been as successful in Pender County without his influence.
Unlike many more affluent North Carolina counties, Pender County continued to use several of its Rosenwald school buildings into the 1960s.
For more information on the Rosenwald school movement, see the Links page at the upper right.
Long-Creek Grady school, Long Creek, NC (white school built 1924) photo by Claudia Stack
PO Box 525
Rocky Point, NC 28457
claudia
